My cat's demolishing my mini-blinds!!

My cat has started a thing with breaking off the outer 3"-4" of my mini-blinds. He's not consistent about it, and I can't really associate it with anything else going on. I can't tell why he's doing it, but it needs to stop or I won't get much of my deposit back.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, could you tell me how you resolved the situation?

This is what our blinds look like now. Before we got Pepper, Petunia was bored and so she would climb into the window and, of course, up the blinds. So what I am getting at is, is your cat an only cat? Do they have enough stimulation? Believe me, I know exactly what you are going through and I know have to replace blinds so that I can get my deposit back too.

Jo

To our cats blinds= annoying object that must die because its in the way of seeing the outside world. lol

prue and Icis are the SAME way, they will destroy the blinds unless i lift them so they can see out of EVERY window,,,starting to drive me INSANE!!!

Mine have trashed my mini blinds, too. They like to stick their heads between the slats, so I try to remember to raise them a little so they can see out, for all the good it does.
I will just replace them when I move so I can get my deposit back. Mini blinds are a lot cheaper than the wear and tear on my nerves if I get all upset every time they do it, because at least one of them is always messing with the blinds.

If you can move the furniture so that they can't reach the windows, that will help. Move it pretty far, though, becasuse they will balance on tips of toes if it makes it possible to get to the window and those Evil Squirrels outside.

Otherwise, just chalk it up as one of the perils of cat ownership.

I just keep mine raised partway so that they can see out. Can't expect them to put up with blinds spoiling their view! They still mess with them a bit but mostly just look out at the bottom where they're raised. I've recently given in and left both the living room and bedroom ones part raised permanently (used to shut them completely at night) as my kitten furbabe just made a racket with them at 4.30am every morning.

Take down your mini-blinds, and put up blackout curtains for the times that you are sleeping. My boys can get their heads under the curtains and still see the outside world.

Thank you for your responses. The blinds he's worst about is the ones in the bedroom; he's broken off about 4-5. I keep them raised about 4"-5"; but that doesn't seem to help. He still breaks off the ends.

I've tried spraying them with cat repellant; it doesn't really seem to help.

I want to get him a buddy cat; but that won't be for several months at least.

If it's possible, you could take down the mini blinds and store them for whenever you move out so you get your deposit back. Then i would suggest just hanging some sheer curtains or something light on a tension rod...this way, whenever the cat starts to mess around with them, the tension rod will fall and scare the kitty off. (They're light and shouldn't hurt the cat). This way, the cat associates climbing blinds and window coverings as a bad thing and will be detured from it's destructive behavior.

My next apartment has blinds like that and I'm not allowed to take them down because the landlord wants everyone's apartment to look the same from the outside... but I can raise them up a little.

Right now I've just taken them all down (bedrooms) or put them all the way up (kitchen) so it's not an issue. We'll have to see how it goes I guess. I know the landlord will charge like 60$ to replace them. Grrr. Zissou is still small enough to slip through without breaking them, but why don't landlords learn their lesson and put in those hanging blinds that cat's can't destroy?

Jade has mutilated mine as well ): Isis doesn't care so much but Jade dispises them. I don't know why exactly. I've raised the blinds and I've also put the strings (drawstrings) up out of reach. She was destroying the blinds so she could get to the string to play with it.

If our blinds are not raised, OG will knock them around and bang them into the window until they are.
they have to be up so that they will in no way impede his view of the outside.
no way.

LOL

Verticals are the only way to go.
I learned that lesson the hard way.

I don't know about that--Miss Arizona has been known to put a hurtin' on vertical blinds, too.

Mine do that, too. They use that as an attention getter when they want to go outside. Or if one is inside and the other outside to let me know that the one outside wants to come in. Definately a attention getter at 3:00 a.m. in the morning!! Grrrr!!!

In the early morning...
Dexter & Sadie play the bedroom verticals like a marimba to wake me up.
I haven't slept past 5AM in years.

Adding another cat just adds to the destruction! People laugh when they visit here, our blinds have been chewed so that there is a perfect opened square at the bottom of both. Big enough so a curious cat's head can frame it! LOL The only thing I worry about is the cord. I run the blind's cords through pvc pipe that I have painted to match the room. The strings stay tucked out of the way, and the cat's can play in the blinds all they want.

There are some really cool windows I saw at a home improvement show. Two panes of glass sandwiched together. Inside each pane of glass are remote control blinds! Not only dust-proof but cat-proof. The price is a bit out of budget though-

I don'tknow,if you have IKEA in the US, but they sell very cheap blinds, cheaper than 60$ anyway, so just leave them for now,and replace themwhen you move out ?

I think just before I move out (which prayerfully won't be many more months!!) I'll just buy replacement mini-blinds and either put them up myself or have my landlady's husband put them up. I don't see how they could withhold my deposit if they don't have to pay anything themselves to replace the blinds.